


Not Strictly Heterosexual

by Postsynthcomrade5



Category: Bottom (UK)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Humor, Angst with a Happy Ending, British Character, British Comedy, British English, British Slang, Closeted, Closeted Character, Coming Out, England (Country), Fluff and Angst, Gay Pride, Homosexuality, Light Angst, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Out of Character, Post-Canon, Pride
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-14
Updated: 2019-09-14
Packaged: 2020-10-18 17:40:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20643101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Postsynthcomrade5/pseuds/Postsynthcomrade5
Summary: Richie has a big life realization about himself and his identitywhile he's unsure of how to "Come out" to Eddie about it.





	1. Chapter 1

The sky was dusk over the city of Hammersmith,

Eddie had been out at the Lamb and Flag pub getting pissed with Spudgun and Dave Hedgehog,it wouldn’t be long until he’d be back home, meanwhile, Richie was at home, cleaning dishes in the kitchen.

He was deep in thought as he lightly wiped off each plate, saucer and eating utensil with his cloth

Something was on his mind, Richie did have the tendency to worry and freak out about a lot of events and decisions, but this particular thought was different.

He gave a glance at the window as he finished tidying, their flat wasn’t the cleanest place in London, but it wasn’t as dingy as it was when they first moved in back in 1991.

Richie wasn’t like the rest of Eddie’s mates, yeah he’d occasionally go to the pub with them and invite them over for the holidays, but other than that Richie didn’t really connect with the rest of Eddie’s pals, it didn’t help that at times he was quite whiny and narcissistic, while he wouldn’t like admitting it to himself,Eddie was the only pal he really had, while he did have some fun but cringy times getting “birds” with Eddie back in the day, it felt off.

When he was a little boy, he didn’t really have good communication skills, while he enjoyed being competitive, he wasn’t interested in girls like the rest of the boys were, traditionally he was brought up to be a stereotypical man, but he wasn’t….at times he was flamboyant and at times a bit ditzy compared to the rest of his family who were strong and wise.


	2. 2

He was thinking back to all the shenanigans that he and Eddie would get involved in from the sex spray incident,the time they were stuck on a Ferris wheel,the burglars, then he remembered some other memories such as the time he nearly kissed him when they went camping or the time they dressed up as a married couple.

Outside of the embarrassing flirting skills he gave to the maid, on that day or the fights he got into with “Edwina”, he quite liked that memory, he felt like he was projecting the image he wanted to be, the image his family wanted him to have, that of a charming gentleman, even if his so-called “wife” was testing his patience.

He blinked as he looked away from the window, nowadays he had grown a lot since then, he knew that he wasn’t good at flirting with women, he was more aware of his actions and social skills, times had changed, but some subjects were still taboo…

He had realised...that he wasn’t attracted to women….he was attracted to men, but he wouldn’t show it much or at all, when he’d see gay men at pubs talking openly about how beautiful men are, he’d feel unsure, when he would see archive clips of Freddie Mercury, Elton John or Kenneth Williams he felt even more lost, while he loved Rock music and the Carry on movies,he noticed that while Freddie and Elton were quite open and free-spirited about their identities, he realised that he hadn’t been,it felt strange,it felt confusing, he had to be straight,that’s what he was taught to be,but he didn’t feel straight, when he couldn’t connect romantically with women,it felt forced,was he actually attracted to them or was that just what he was told to do,was he afraid of showing his true feelings because of his worry over how people would react about it considering the social stigma about homosexuality at the time?

So many questions, did he really care about the gender of who he’d someday get with, or was he just generally interested and curious about relationships and sex in general, did it really matter if his “first” was a bloke? 

“GOD!” he yelled to himself “What the hell am I going to tell him?” “should I tell him?” “will he understand or will he just mock me as he does for everything else” “I’ve never told anyone about this before, why am I only figuring this out now?” “What on earth is he going to say?” “What would he think if he knew that I love him” “he’s the only bloke I can remember spending quality time with” “would he care if I said I was attracted to him?” “I mean…. He paused, 

“Well, he is quite charming”... he then blushed and fawned,

“The time we were stuck on the roof of that corner shop and we were just relaxing in the sunshine and he was dressed like a Monty python Gumby with his little hat, glasses and suspended trousers or the time we dressed as a married couple, where Eddie became Edwina, with that tight black dress, the curly wig and drag makeup.

  
  


He continued to fawn...when he could hear Eddie’s footsteps going closer to the front door


	3. 3

Richie shook his head and put on a smile “Right, snap out of it” 

He ran up to the door and flung it open 

“Welcome back Eddie!, did you have a good time at the pub?”

Eddie shrugged as he took off his hat and coat, hanging them on the coat rack

“Of Course I did, it was great to see them again, Spudgun has gotten himself a job now, he’s a childminder as for Dave, well Dave does volunteer work for the local communities, I’ve been thinking of maybe doing part-time work at the Lamb and Flag, what about you Rich? What have you been up to while I was gone?”

Richie paused as he blinked for a bit, internally he mumbled to himself “You can’t tell him, you just can’t, what if he’s creeped out, No, No I should just tell him anyway to get it off my chest”

He stopped mumbling, “Nothing, Eddie I was just washing the dishes and watching telly as usual,” he said as he laughed slightly 

Eddie nodded as he made his way to the sofa,

Richie waved to him, “Eddie!” 

Eddie turned his head “Yes?”

Richie walked over to the sofa “I’d like to talk to you about something”

Eddie listened, “what do you want to tell me?”

Richie started to explain “Well, remember when we used to go out together to try and get birds?”

Eddie chuckled “Yes, those were the days, you were so bad at talking to ladies and you couldn’t get with any of them”

“Except for that one that I nicked from you when we were in Paris”

Richie tried to explain again, “remember when we stole those honeymoon tickets and we dressed as a married couple”

Eddie thought for a while, “Oh yeah, that was fun, I got to dress up as a lady and you got angry because I was flirting with the bartender”

Richie rolled his eyes “That’s not the point”

“So Eddie you know I didn’t have good social skills when talking to women and how even if I did almost get with one it wouldn’t work out”

Eddie nodded “Yes, you could never get a shag, you remained a virgin”

Richie interrupted “I know now the reason why”

Eddie was intrigued “Why is that Richie?”

Richie said, “well it’s because I’m….he paused for a bit, "Gay”

“Remember when you said I wasn’t strictly heterosexual, you were right, but I was still closeted about it at the time” 

Eddie blinked his eyes multiple times, gasping “Huh but, What? 

Richie looked away and said, “what do you think?”

Eddie was surprised “I mean I knew that you were probably not straight but I didn’t know you actually were..a homosexual”

Richie blinked, “Yes, Eddie I am”

Eddie smiled and shrugged his shoulders “that’s interesting to know”

Richie gasped, “So your not going to mock me?”

Eddie said, “Why would I do that? I already make fun of you for a lot of things so why would I make fun of you after you’ve just come out to me”

Richie continued, “and remember how I used to always have trouble falling in love, well I think I’ve found someone”


	4. Chapter 4

Eddie turned his head, smirking as he held his chin, “Who’s the lucky guy then?”

Richie blushed, cherry red, “Well we’ve been living together for 28 years now,we’ve had our good times,I’ve made you dinner even if I’ve caused a few fires, remember when we were camping and I was singing but just as I was about to go to sleep I almost,...*he paused*

“It’s you, Eddie,” he said, as he then looked away 

Eddie gasped, “Me?”, 

Richie mumbled, “Yes”

Eddie blinked, “Oh!” why me?”

Richie then said, “We already live together, I love the interactions we’ve had, I like spending time with you, hanging out with you,we’ve always been there for each other even if we sometimes argue and tend to take the piss out of each other a lot, I love how you always put up with me,I love the adventures we have,I love how talented you are with your inventions,I love our memories,I love how you were with me in the ambulance that one time I almost got a heart attack, I, love you, Eddie, ~”

Eddie processed the information, “Aww~ Thanks Rich,I love you too,”

“It might take a while for me to adjust to you being gay but we’ll still be mates no matter what”

Richie cried a few tears of joy, “Thank you, Eddie, that means the world to me”

After a while, he asked Eddie one more question “is it ok if I can snog you now?”

Eddie nodded “go ahead”

Richie then leapt up, holding Eddie in an embrace as he started to pucker up his lips slightly as he gave Eddie a smooth, slow and affectionate smooch, Eddie had never been kissed by a man before, when he felt Richie’s lips touch his, it felt nice, as Richie removed his hands away from Eddie’s chin,he smiled and blushed as he walked back to the kitchen to prepare supper.

Eddie stood still, trying to process what had happened, he kinda liked it, when he felt the kiss when it ended and Richie just smiled back at him, they weren’t arguing or joking around like they usually would, he realised that they actually had a very romantic and wholesome moment,he never knew that it would be Richie of all the people in his life that was responsible for such an amazing experience but it made for one brilliant memory.

Then months later, it was London Pride,there were crowds cheering, music blasting,flags waving,Eddie had never been to pride before,but here he was, he was actually enjoying it, drinking and dancing to the music while passionately chanting the slogans and activism statements, outside of the partying and the good food, there was one aspect of pride that stood out to him.

It was Richie, he was wearing a white shirt with a pride slogan on it held by suspended trousers that were decorated with a rainbow pattern and glitter, as he could feel his bright blonde hair flowing in the wind as his glitter jeans reflected in the sunlight, he felt happier, he felt confident, he felt more like himself,

he cheerfully danced, chanted and waved the flags alongside him.

As the day came to a close and the DJ was switching from ABBA’s Angel Eyes to Queen’s somebody to love, he and Richie were drinking but they weren’t fighting, they were dancing, slowly staggering to Freddie’s beautiful voice,

Richie was drunkenly singing “Can Anybody find me, somebody, to love?”

Eddie chuckled “love you too, you wanker”

Richie smirked as he blushed “Oh Eddie!” as he gave Eddie a quick snog, Richie’s lips smelt of the chocolate bars he had been eating, the flavour was sweet, like the kiss

They then held hands as they continued to dance to the sound of Queen, into the moonlight for both of them knew this was an unforgettable night.


End file.
